Don't Come Back
by jarielynn
Summary: Writte for the Musical Cues contest. Based on the song Jar of Hearts by Christina Perri.


*****Thanks to Jessica0306 for betaing this on the fly for me. You are awesome. **

*****This was wriiten for the Musical Cues contest on FreeWriters and Readers. Asked to pick a song and write a one shot from it, I chose _Jar of Hearts by Christina Perri. _Listen to song here: **

**http:/www(.)youtube(.)com/watch?v=gO3xQvz6gdQ. See more one shots like this here: http:/freewritersandreaders(.)ning(.)com/group/freewritersoneshotcontests**

I woke up thinking about him and I felt sick. I held my stomach and groaned into the pillow, willing the thoughts away, but the dream had been so real.

_We were laughing and Edward had his arms around me as we fell on the bed. "Don't go to work today. Stay here with me," he begged. He kissed my neck, his tongue darting out to lick along my rapidly beating pulse. His hand reached for the phone sitting on the table. "I'll dial the number and you talk. Tell them you're taking a personal day to spend with your fiancé."_

Fiancé_, I smiled giddily at the word and held my hand up to see the ring that now graced it. He paused in his kissing to look at me, his eyes alight with desire and need. "Stay, Bella." He held the phone out for me and I took it, wanting nothing more than to spend the day with him._

"Thank you, Rose." I spoke the words aloud to the quiet room. Rose had called me last night to warn me that he had been over to see Emmett. Edward and Emmett had been best friends, but apparently there was no warm reception waiting for Edward there. Emmett had called Edward a few choice names and slammed the door in his face. Rose said Edward was lucky Emmett didn't kick the shit out of him first.

The conversation with Rose brought thoughts of him to the forefront of my mind again, which led to the dream. I hadn't dreamt of him in months and this was an unwelcome set back.

I sighed as I rolled out of the bed and padded across the room in my bare feet. My mind was a jumble of images and my heart felt the strain, the pain of it, all over again.

"Damn it," I muttered. I thought I was getting better, but now he was back. Back to torture me some more? To make me remember and sink back into my despair? I had just gotten my smile back, my light, and I didn't want to lose it again.

I had heard that he'd stopped at some of our old haunts, asking about me. There was even a letter taped to my door one night when I got home from Rose's. It had a his name and phone number on it. As if I would call him. I thanked God that I hadn't been there that night and steadfastly tried to avoid any place I thought he might be, but I couldn't avoid him forever.

It was eight o'clock on a Saturday night when I saw him. I was standing in line, waiting to pay for my groceries, when he walked past the store's front window. I was so startled I dropped the jar of pickles I was holding and they shattered all over the floor. Who would've thought he would be there at Thriftway on a Saturday night? Shouldn't he be at the bar? Shouldn't he be out with i_her/i_?

The cashier stared at me; the woman behind me cried out and jumped back, afraid, I guess, of getting splashed by pickle juice. It took me a minute to even realize what I had done. The loud voice over the P.A. system calling for clean up in lane two alerted me to my faux pas.

Suddenly, I was hyper-aware of the smell of vinegar and the feel of the wet, sticky mess against my legs. I stepped back as a young boy with a mop and bucket came around the line. Everyone had to move out of the way so he could get through, and I wanted to crawl inside myself, hating the attention I was drawing - _especially_ right now. Because if he was here….

I felt his eyes on me and looked up. He looked stricken, as surprised to see me as I was him. I swallowed nervously as my hands started to sweat and my mouth went dry.

He looked exactly the same and my heart thundered in my chest as my eyes swept over his familiar mop of sun-kissed brown hair. His vibrant, sea green eyes whispered to me of years past, and secret special looks that were meant just for me. His full lips reminded me of hot, wet, passionate kisses on long ago nights full of dreams and love.

_He took my hand in his, his smile soft and loving, as he brought it to his lips, kissing it gently. "I will love you forever." His arms wrapped around my waist as he pulled me close, and I felt safe and warm. "We have our whole future together in front of us, Bella. What do you want to do first?"_

"_I just want you," I breathed against his neck. _

"_You have me." His lips slanted against mine as his tongue slipped along the soft inner flesh my mouth. His fingers moved up to curl along my chin and move me in closer, as if he couldn't get near enough. "I love you."_

A small whimper escaped my lips and I took an involuntary step back. The memory was so sharp I had to shake my head to clear the image. My legs ached with the urge to walk towards him, but my heart knew better; that way would only lead to regret.

"Miss?" I turned to look at the confused clean-up boy who was holding a new jar of pickles. Had I been standing there that long? Long enough for everything to be cleaned up and a new jar of pickles fetched?

I blinked as he held the jar out to me. "Did you want another one?" The kid must've thought I was crazy. His face spoke volumes as he glanced between the jar and me.

"Yes, thank you," I managed to mutter as I grabbed the jar and hurriedly got back in line. I kept my gaze focused straight ahead, not daring to look to see if _he_ was still there. That man - Edward - the one who had left me shattered and alone. The one who had chosen another woman's love over mine. The one who had walked away from me like it was nothing, like he had no soul, or perhaps just one filled with ice.

_"You're leaving me? I don't understand." _

_He stood before me, cold, impersonal. Nothing like the man I had grown to love, nothing but a stranger. "I'm in love with someone else. Jane, my partner at the firm. We've been seeing each other for awhile now."_

_His words cut through my heart and I clutched at my chest trying to hold it together. He loved her? They had been seeing each other? Was he sleeping with her?_

"_You were with her… while we… but how… I mean when… how…" I couldn't form a coherent thought much less a sentence as I struggled to talk to him, to understand why or how he could be doing this to me, to us. _

"_What about me? I thought you loved me?" Tears ran down my cheeks as my lips trembled when all I wanted was for him to take me in his arms and tell me this wasn't real. _

_Regret flashed briefly across his features before the cold mask returned. "I thought I did. But…" He shrugged indifferently. "Maybe it was never love, maybe it was just sex. I don't know. I tried to stay with you, but you wanted too much. A marriage, kids… I just can't see that with you."_

_I stared at him, reeling in shock and disbelief. What about all the things he'd said? Had everything about our relationship been a lie?_

"_I have to go. I'm meeting her in an hour." He looked at me one more time and a glimpse of my Edward showed through. His mouth turned down in a frown and his eyes searched mine. "I'm sorry, Bella."_

_I sat there stricken as he walked away, my soul drowning, my life shattering around me. _

I felt sick as I stared blindly at the cashier, who cocked her head at me and whispered, "Are you alright?"

I nodded numbly and fumbled for my purse. All I could do was repeat the steps I needed to take to get outside - _take out credit card, swipe, sign, grab receipt, push cart, exit building. _

I managed to get through the sliding glass doors before I realized he was following me.

"Bella?"

Oh God, I could still hear that sound in my ear, his loving words like a lover's caress, thrilling me and warming my insides. _"Bella, you're everything to me. I want you, need you."_ An old thrill moved down my spine and I was assaulted by memories that I couldn't escape.

_Edward smiled at me, leaning in to touch my cheek. He pressed himself against me and murmured his need in my ear. "God you feel good. I'll never get enough." His eyes sang his love, swam with devotion and need. _

_I moved against him as my passion grew and my hand ran along his back, up to tangle in his hair. I moaned as everything started to build inside and I called to him as I was swept away._

"_Oh, Bella, don't stop. Don't ever stop."_

"Bella, please stop."

I was quickly brought back to my harsh reality and reminded myself that I shouldn't be thinking about that. Certainly not _now_, when everything I felt could be seen on my face by he one man I wanted to see nothing.

I knew when I got to my car I would have to stop. My bags needed to go into the trunk and unless I left them, there would be no quick escape. I _was_ tempted to ditch and run, but I wouldn't allow myself to do that. I couldn't let him know that he scared me, or that he affected me that much. I was no longer the shell of a girl he'd left behind, I had grown up. Wasn't I stronger now than I had been before? Couldn't I stand up to him, face him and tell him to go to hell? Didn't I want that chance?

I clicked the button for the trunk release on my remote. My feet came to a halt by my car, but my hands were still in constant motion as I grabbed the bags and began stuffing them in. His fingers curled around my upper arm and I felt the familiar path of electricity course through me at his touch. His breath and his smell were uncomfortably close and I readied myself for the confrontation.

"Bella, talk to me."

"Who the hell do you think you are?" I snarled, jerking my arm from his grasp. I was surprised at the ire in my voice and proud I pulled it off without trembling. My insides shook like jelly and my heart felt like it was going to leap right out of my chest. Damned if I'd let him see that though. "Keep your hands off me."

"I'm back. I came back for you. I was wrong, Bella. I love you."

I laughed, a deep sarcastic, biting sound as I finally faced him. My eyes narrowed and my hand twitched with the need to slap the sappy look right off his face. How dare he? I asked again, "Who do you think you are?"

His eyes widened and his mouth turned up into that half smile I used to love. Right then it made me nauseas. "I'm Edward. We were in love once."

His finger ran down my arm and I twitched away from him, my palm no longer waiting to feel the slap of his cheek against it. The crack sounded out, and a red handprint formed on his left cheek. I smiled a little in satisfaction.

"I'm not your ghost anymore, Edward. I learned to live without you. You've lost my love, so don't come around asking me for one more time. It's not going to happen."

His eyes took on a haunted look, and he looked at the ground, his hands clenching. "I love you," he murmured, sounding like a lost little boy.

"What about Jane?" Jane the bitch, the one he had left with. The one he said he had fallen in love with. His work partner, his slut.

"I left her when I realized the mistake I had made."

"Another broken heart to add to your collection?" I wondered how many hearts he had collected. When I met him, he had just broken it off with Angela and before her Jessica. I should've known I would be no different, but I thought I was and I i_had/i_ out lasted all the others.

"It's not like that. I was afraid. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, but I was afraid. I've never felt like that before. Please hear me out. I know you hate me, but please." His eyes were pleading and desperate and I almost felt a twinge of the old love.

But then I remembered all the broken promises; the engagement ring I had to give back, the wedding I had to cancel, the calls to family and friends, and the humiliation.

_"Dad… "_

"_Bella. How's it going? I just went and got fitted for the tux. I'm telling ya kid, only for you would I go through all this…." He stopped abruptly when I burst into tears. "Baby, what is it? What's happened?"_

"_He left me." I choked on the last word, my sadness too much. "He wanted someone else and he left me."_

_There was complete and utter silence on the other end as my father came to terms with what I had told him. "I don't understand."_

"_He's fucking somebody else and they're in love, daddy! That's it. It's over. He doesn't want me!"_

"Are you trying to tear me apart?" I questioned, my lips forming a sneer. "Well, you've already done that and there's not much left. I may have learned to live half alive, but I'm still too strong to fall for your lies again."

I turned from him, opening my door. I had nothing else to say. He was nothing to me but an old wound on my heart. Yeah, he had left a scar there, but it had healed. I couldn't let him hurt me anymore. "I don't know who you think you are to me, but you're nothing. I'm over you. Don't come back for me again. Don't came back at all."

I got into my car, shut the door and started the engine. I tried not to look back. I willed my eyes away from the rearview mirror, but they strayed once and I saw him, still standing there staring after my car looking lost and alone. I felt some sort of vengeance; now he knew how I felt. But the further I drove away the more my hands shook, the more my eyes watered until I had to pull over to the side of the road and stop as I was overwhelmed with sorrow.

Why did he come back? Why? Who did he think he was to bring this all back on me again? I broke down right there on the side of the road, finally letting all the turmoil and emotions from the encounter to push through. I didn't look up until a pair of headlights lit up the interior of my car.

My door opened and I turned toward the man standing there, half expecting it to be him.

"Baby, Rose called. I'm here." My father squatted next to me and reached in, his arms surrounding me. I leaned into him, my grief too much to carry on my own.

"How did you know?"

"Edward called Rose. She called me. Jake's with me. He can drive my car. Scoot over so I can drive. I'll take you home." He started the car and pulled back out on the road, before speaking again. "He's gone. He told Rose he was leaving."

I sat staring out the window and silently pushed all the shit with Edward back down to where it was suppose to be. A place deep inside, buried, where it couldn't hurt me anymore.

***** I didn't win, but figured I wouldn't because this Edward is such a jerk. I am thinking of expanding this into a full length story, this being the beginning. What do you think? **


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